Station is 'carbon dinosaur'

HALTON'S leading environmental campaign group is demanding action to curb sources of pollution in Widnes after a major survey by Friends of the Earth found Fiddlers Ferry to be the fourth highest polluter of all UK power stations.

HALTON'S leading environmental campaign group is demanding action to curb sources of pollution in Widnes after a major survey by Friends of the Earth found Fiddlers Ferry to be the fourth highest polluter of all UK power stations.

Deni Newman, Widnes-based coordinator of Halton Friends of the Earth (HFoE), described the coal-fired facility on the border of the town as a 'carbon dinosaur' and said the worrying news meant a concerted efforts was needed to tackle the pollution issue in Halton.

She said control over the burning of fossil fuel was of particular importance in the area, in the light of statistics which suggest the borough's population has the worst cancer rate and poorest health in the country. She said the group was 'deeply concerned' about the implications for the local community.

HFoE is pushing the Government to step up action on tackling carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and PM10 which are all emitted by Fiddlers Ferry and are on a 'hit list' of seven pollutants targeted for major reductions.

The Government will be required to enforce the EU's Large Combustion Plant Directive controlling dust, SO2 and NOx, which cause acid rain, and the Emissions Trading Directive which puts a cap on the release of CO2, a 'greenhouse gas' implicated in global warming.

But HFoE has warned that a 20% CO2 reduction target will be missed by the 2010 deadline, unless action is taken against facilities like Fiddlers Ferry and the proposed sludge burning plants which look likely to be built in Widnes.

'We say that people's health does matter, and unless attitudes change at every political level we shall see present and future generations blighted by some of the worst environmental and social injustice in the UK since Victorian times.

'All these recent exposures, together with the statistics revealing the appalling health in the borough, indicate a real need to tackle seriously the subject of pollution.

'It is not good enough for MPs, MEPs and local councils to play the employment card, especially when a lot of companies are actually reducing staff but increasing output and, by association, pollution.'

A statement from the American owner of Fiddlers Ferry, AEP, is expected in the next few days.